Could Super Bowl Lead out program ratings increase even more in years to come?

ANDREW DZWONCZYK

STAFF WRITER

The Super Bowl is the highest rated event of the year in the United States, and every year the Super Bowl has a lead out program where popular primetime shows have special episodes air after the game in order to attract bigger audiences. This year the program was “This Is Us”, which attracted 27 million viewers who tuned into to see the heartbreaking death of a beloved character.

The ratings come as a surprise as the Super Bowl’s lead out program has struggled to attract bigger audiences in recent years, with last year’s program “24: Legacy” only attracting 17.58 million viewers. The show was canceled four months later in June. In 2016 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired after the Super Bowl with only 20.55 million viewers. In 2015, The Blacklist aired to only 25.7 million viewers, New Girl the year before with 26.30 million viewers, and Elementary in 2013 with 20.800 million viewers.

Six years ago, The Voice aired after the Super Bowl to 37.611 million viewers. In comparison to “This Is Us”, “This Is Us” does not seem like such a huge success, but with how the numbers have been since 2012, it is certain that viewers of the show will be pleased at how big the episodes ratings are and how they are the biggest in a half a decade.

PHOTO CREDIT: NBC STUDIOS

Could Super Bowl lead out program ratings increase even more in years to come? 37.611 million viewers is a big number and it has been many years since a lead out program has had ratings larger than this. Seventeen years to be exact when “Survivor: The Australian Outback” aired in 2001 to 45.369 million viewers, and before that was “Friends” back in 1996 with 52.925 million viewers, the highest rated Super Bowl lead out program ever. Though, is it possible that a program can one day surpass the record that “Friends” has? Is the reason why “This Is Us” is being appreciated for its 27 million viewers because it’s the biggest that ratings for a lead out program might ever amount to now?

What is it going to take for another 52 million viewers to tune in and watch a lead out program after the Super Bowl? In the past 20 years it seems that high ratings have come when a program was not scripted, such as with “Survivor: The Australian Outback” and The Voice. Should net works maybe stop airing scripted dramas and comedies after the Super Bowl?